A 4,500- square foot addition to the Cowley County Mental Health Center at Strother Field has been completed, County Commissioners learned Tuesday night.
The project also included the remodeling of 4,000 square feet of the existing building to expand the training room for foster parents working with children with mental illness, and to expand the outpatient psychiatric medical clinic. The clinic helps people living in the community make sure they are receiving and taking the proper medications.
Project manager Mike West gave an update to the County Commission during a public hearing conducted during a regularly scheduled commission meeting.
“There is an increased demand for community based mental health services across the state,” West said after the meeting.
The original mental health building was constructed approximately six years ago and was designed to allow for expansion. Long-range plans call for even further expansion based on an expected growth in the number of clients needing services, according to West.
“There is an increased number of children seeking services through the Center,” he said.
The construction cost for the remodeling and expansion project is $1.19 million. A Kansas Department of Commerce Small Cities Community Development Block Grant provided $400,000. The balance, West said, was paid by Mental Health Center reserves. A CDBG also paid a portion of the original project.
In other business:
Commissioners also Tuesday night talked with Joe Archambeau, who is developing a subdivision on 132nd Road approximately three and one-half miles northeast of Winfield. Called Hilltop Estates, the housing area has four 10-acre lots and two 25-acre lots.
Archambeau’s appearance before the commission was the final step in the project he began last December.
“It’s almost the same elevation as the water tower in Winfield. That’s pretty high,” he said. “On a clear night, you can see Wichita.”
The development has restrictive convenants, according to Archambeau. Permanent foundations are required. No single-wide mobile homes are allowed and homes must be constructed of new materials. The main level of the home must be 1,600 square feet or more.
“It makes a nice, average size home,” he said.